On 31st December 2011 Ankur and his wife Sangeeta stood atop Mt. Kilimanjaro and decided to embark on an adventure to climb the 7 summits, that is, to reach the top of the highest mountain on each of the 7 continents in the world. What started out as a passionate aspiration, has now been transformed into a journey for a greater cause with the formation of "Climb for a Smile", a fundraising challenge to support underprivileged children.

By attempting to climb the 7 summits, their aim is to raise awareness about the plight of children in India, in whose lives a serious positive difference can be made with your generous contributions and their persistent efforts.

MountKilamanjaro31 Dec'11

MountElbrus18 Jul'13

MountVinson

Denali

CarstenzPyramid

Kosciuszko

Aconcagua

MountEverest

SCHEDULED

Jan 2014

Jun 2014

Oct 2014

Oct 2014

Feb 2015

May 2015

Capt. Ankur Bahl

Ankur completed his studies in Welham boys and Doon school where his first stint in trekking began. He participated in several trekking expeditions including one at Gomukh at age13.

Ankur joined the Merchant Navy and went out to sea in 1978. He withdrew from the service in 1994 to join hands in his father’s family business of ship-broking. Ankur loves to play golf, listen to English jazz & rock music of the 70-80’s. It was his dream to climb the Kilimanjaro before turning 50...

Sangeeta Bahl

Sangeeta was born in the state of Jammu & Kashmir and grew up with mountains all around her. Childhood summers were spent with grandparents in the beautiful hill station of Dalhousie or in the valley of Srinagar where walking and hiking were the only ways to get around. Weekends often meant a quick climb to pay homage to the shrine at Vaishno devi, perched up a few thousand feet above Jammu.

As the years rolled by, Sangeeta embarked on a career in flying and lived for several ...

Capt. Ankur Bahl

Ankur Studied at Welham Boys, The Doon school and St.Stephens in Delhi before going out to sea in 1978. He sailed as a master for several years before joining the family shipbroking business in 1994. His trekking roots date back to childhood holidays spent at the family home in Dalhousie, a charming hill station in the north, and school days where mid-term breaks were enjoyed in the foothills of the himalayas around Dehradun. At the age of 13, he completed his first major trek, when "Bond", the dynamic maths teacher at the doon school led ankur and his classmates to Gaumukh, the mouth of the river ganges located at an altitude of 4100m. They hiked in school clothes, white PT shoes with woolen socks used as gloves, and that's when Ankur's quest for more challenging adventures was born.

With an active seagoing career keeping him busy upto his early 40s, it was only in 2004 that he was able to go on his first serious trek with Sangeeta, when they went on a pilgrimage to Manimahesh lake which is perched at an altitude of 4200m in the state of Himachal Pradesh, India.

The Kilimanjaro dream was born in 2010 when he decided that he must climb it before he turned 50 the following year. A slipped disc delayed the climb by a year but did not deter him from reaching the summit along with sangeeta on the 31st of December 2011. After having set his sights on the 7 summits Ankur felt that he now needed professional training and completed a training course on the glaciers of the beautiful Mt. Rainier off Seattle in the USA followed by a successful climb to the summit giving a boost to his confidence. Since then as part of his training programme he has been on the slopes of Aconcagua , trekked on the Everest base camp trail climbing Kalapathar on the way and summitted Lobuche east in April 2013, His first 6000m+ peak. A carefully thought out climbing programme for the seven summits is being executed with the most recent achievement in the process being the summit of Mt. Elbrus in tough weather conditions

On his journey to Mt. Everest scheduled for May 2015, Ankur wants to gain enough experience so that he can become a competent climber, firmly believing that with dedication, hardwork, willpower and blessings from the mountains he is attempting to climb, he will be able to fulfill the lofty goals he has set himself to attain along with his sweetheart.

Sangeeta Bahl

Sangeeta was born in the state of Jammu & Kashmir and grew up with mountains all around her. Childhood summers were spent with grandparents in the beautiful hill station of Dalhousie or in the valley of Srinagar where walking and hiking were the only ways to get around. Weekends often meant a quick climb to pay homage to the shrine at Vaishno devi, perched up a few thousand feet above Jammu.

As the years rolled by, Sangeeta embarked on a career in flying and lived for several years in Jordan and then the U.A.E. Whilst working she was able to travel the expanse of the globe and sought adventure by sightseeing in exotic places all over the world, always imbibing something new. A few years into her working life she met her soul mate, Ankur and as he also had an affinity towards nature, it re-kindled her love for trekking and they went on a lot of hikes and trails in the lower Himalayas of North India. They were married in 2000. Soon after the birth of their son in 2003, they did their first serious trek to Manimahesh lake at a altitude of about 13500ft. in Himachal Pradesh. It involved an elevation gain of nearly 7000ft in one single day and even though they had no prior experience at high altitude , they fared well and credit goes to Sangeeta for having been on a tough trek soon after she had a child.
One day in July 2011, sitting over breakfast Ankur asked her if she would like to share his lifelong dream of climbing Kilimanjaro in Africa. It took her only a few seconds to decide that she wanted to join him. That's when her climbing journey began with extensive fitness programmes and internet searches for climbing gear. Each day towards the departure date for the expedition became more exciting and soon it was time to board the Kenyan airlines flight to Nairobi and then Kilimanjaro. Sangeeta and Ankur left their son Aarnav in the care of his grandparents and went to summit Mt. Kilimanjaro on the 31st of December 2011. Spurred on by their success of reaching an altitude of 19341ft the idea of attempting the 7 summits took shape.

There after there has been no turning back for her. With her excellent networking skills she was able to connect with Satyabrata Dam, an accomplished mountaineer with 4 summits of Mt. Everest, the seven summits and over 350 peaks under his belt. Satya charted out a training and climbing programme for her starting with an alpine climbing course on the Bacher thatch glacier in Beas Kund , and the Seven Sisters. Later she went upto 20800ft. on the slope of Mt. Aconcagua in South America and Stok Kangri in May 2013. Her latest success together with Ankur has been the summit of Mt. Elbrus under extreme weather conditions including winds of upto 100kmph and minus 30deg temperatures. Her quest to climb higher and farther continues with a never-ending zeal for adventure.

The thought:

By climbing the 7 summits, Ankur and Sangeeta aim to raise awareness amongst affluent individuals and corporates about their moral obligations towards making the world a better place for children. They are committed towards assisting non-profit organisations who are working towards improving conditions for the underprivileged children of India, in way of their nutrition, health, education, environment and child protection programmes.

If you wish to donate towards Climb for a Smile, please get in touch with us.

You can write to us at:

ankur1961@yahoo.com

sangeeta.sbahl@gmail.com

summit@climbforasmile.com

You can call us on:

Ankur: +91 981 011 5331

Sangeeta: +91 981 046 7788

We might be in remote places at times without internet/phone access, but will try respond to you at the earliest.